<p>I had a 4.0 when I applied to medical school on 1979. It was super competitive to gain admission to medical school ( it eased off a bit in the 1990’s with the success of Wall Street and them became difficult again). I majored in chemistry and avoided as much as possible, terrible professors. I became passionate about class and tutored both general
and organic chemistry . My college had a great deal of requirements ( 3 courses of theology, 4 courses of philosophy, language through level 4 a speech class , 3 semesters of English, a social science , 2 semesters of history and an art course). It was imperative that you studied but left any class within the allowed time once you perceived the professor to not be a correct fit. Run for the hills or take the course pass/fail. I am completely appalled with having bad didactic professors at any college considering the hefty tuition that is charged! If you are not being taught correctly than what are you paying for? No one seems to ever challenge the quality of teaching at the college level . That’s like not caring about the food you are paying for at a prestigious restaurant . After all it is the education you are paying for not just the prestige! Sometimes we are missing what’s important and how some colleges are taking advantage of the consumer.
Find out from your upper classmates professors to avoid and which are outstanding. Get to know your profs. If they are good profs, they’ll be passionate and would enjoy having you ask questions. Finally, read your course work PRIOR TO LECTURE and then after while summarizing what was taught. Never just cram but study in small to moderate increments with notes being concise. Then what I would do is cram anyway to feel like I studied for the exam. You what that adrenalin pumping and you don’t want to be stale . So cramming only helps if you really don’t need to cram.
Good luck in all your endeavors !</p>
<p>I don’t know how I feel about the statement that the safety school being the easy school. I definitely work at what would be considered a safety school. And while I can see that some courses might be easier, the biology department still wants to see students gain med school admissions, the nursing and accounting departments want to see high pass rates on boards or CPA exams, etc. Even a safety school can’t afford to be easy. </p>
<p>However, I noticed a thread a few weeks ago on the college life board about percentage of A’s in a class. Those students were tossing around numbers like 30%. What!? Mine’s around 10. Some years I have more than that. Some years I don’t have any. I’m probably on that “do not take from X” list somewhere.</p>
<p>I graduated college with a 3.9 GPA. While I agree with others not to stress so much about aiming for a 4.0, it is certainly worthwhile to consider habits which will cause better grades. I should note that I also had a lot of fun: it IS possible to do both.</p>
<p>Here is what I did:
- Attended every single class and took good notes
- Did every assignment, on time
- Stayed mostly substance-free. I drank minimally on occasion but overdid the alcohol only once during the school year and felt so embarrassed about my behavior the next day I learned my lesson. (In my day drugs were much less available.)
- I took myself to the library when I really needed to get things done because there were always fun diversions happening in the dorm.
- I took advantage of pass/fail classes when offered. (we were allowed a certain number outside of our major)</p>
<p>It was in grad school that I learned the value of sleep, in terms of promoting efficiency of study.</p>
<p>I had a toddler, got pregnant, and gave birth to a second child during my BSN quest. That added a huge component of stress to my degree which wouldn’t have been an issue for the younger, unmarried student. Going for the 4.0 while trying to be the perfect mother and wife (and feeling my grasp on those things slipping) was a recipe for disaster. I was really on the edge by the end of it, and I wish I had just relaxed and gone for more balance. Nothing I can do about it now, and everything settled down eventually, but things would have been better for all of us if I had just been satisfied to do “merely” very well. I really didn’t stop to smell the roses enough, and I missed some wonderful moments in my kids’ lives that I can never get back. </p>
<p>I think everyone should always try to do a good job at any endeavor they undertake. But trying to be “perfect” is inherently stressful because there really is no such thing, so one will always feel frustrated if that is the goal. Or the prospect of “failure” (usually not really failure, just failure to achieve perfection) takes on much more gravity than it should.</p>
<p>I tell my kids, “Do your best, then let the chips fall where they may and don’t look back.” I really have to watch them, because they both have the perfectionist tendencies, which put them at risk for stress related problems.</p>
<p>For the record, I am not trying for a high GPA for a job interview. I am looking to transfer into a good school as an undergrad…and having talked with counselors over the phone, I know this definitely matters.</p>
<p>Tip: Don’t think you are smarter than the teacher. You don’t know anything, and you have to do the work to learn it. Regardless of how useless the teacher is.</p>
<p>Tip 2: You are there to learn. You are not there to do the minimum to get good grades. In other words, learn for the sake of learning, and not grades. Grades will follow.</p>
<p>Live in 2013 and not in 1971 (there were ZERO 4.0s in my graduating class.) Don’t major in nursing or music (I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a 4.0 in either of those.)</p>